For the 18 students from Ohio's Oberlin College, it was a veritable tour of Indian cinematic history as they spent a considerable time at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) that boasts of a treasure trove of collective wisdom on cinema. “They were here to learn more about Indian cinema,” said Anil Zankar, filmmaker and media professor who conducted a workshop for them at NFAI on Friday and Saturday. "The students were from different educational disciplines. They were keen and perceptive and were interested in the nature of mainstream Indian media. It was an interactive workshop and the enthusiastic and receptive students overwhelmed us with questions", he added. Having already seen Sholay, the students were shown clips from Dadasaheb Phalke's movies, films from the 50's and 60's such as Shree 420 , Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Mughal-E-Azam and some contemporary movies like Satya, Dil Chahta Hai and Yuva.
Radhkrishnan Pillai of the NFAI who was the coordinator of the event says, "NFAI collaborates closely with FTII and research students from around the world come over frequently to visit the archives and lecturers from around India are invited to conduct workshops for them."
Sponsored by Oberlin College and funded by the Minneapolis Foundation, this 13-day-long tour spans across three cinema hubs in the country — Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. The students have now left for Hyderabad.
